Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road: or The Black Rider of the Black Hills
()
About this ebook
Read more from Edward Lytton Wheeler
Deadwood Dick Jr. Branded: or Red Rover at Powder Pocket Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFritz to the Front: or The Ventriloquist Scamp-Hunter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadwood Dick’s Doom: or Calamity Jane’s Last Adventure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road
Related ebooks
Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Westerners Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBill Biddon, Trapper or Life in the Northwest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gray Scalp; Or, The Blackfoot Brave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel Spurs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man from Archangel, and Other Tales of Adventure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tale of Two Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Chaos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over the Pass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Veldt Camp Fires Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Outlander King Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Butterfly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLonesome Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Pecos Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStarlight Ranch, and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmong The Pines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of Adventure and Medical Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaddle and Mocassin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tale of Two Cities (Centaur Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRavenwood Mysteries: Books 1-3: Ravenwood Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Financier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Virginian: The First Cowboy Novel Set in the Wild West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBy Airship to Ophir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Ermine of the Yellowstone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tale of Two Cities (Diversion Illustrated Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel Spurs (Serapis Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Western Fiction For You
The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiders of the Dawn: A Western Duo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGolden Gunmen: A Western Sextet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knotted: Trails of Sin, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Simply Cherokee: Let’s Learn Cherokee: Syllabary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBannon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Calico Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Riding for the Brand: A Western Trio Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raylan Goes to Detroit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Giant: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lone Star Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Josey Wales: Two Westerns : Gone to Texas; The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Man's Walk: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Ringer: A Western Trio Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Trent: A Western Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killer Joe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strong Land: A Western Sextet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing at Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ridgeline: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buffalo Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwanted: Dead or Alive Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way Station Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Searchers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5California Gold: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Homesman: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Folly and Glory: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road - Edward Lytton Wheeler
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I
FEARLESS FRANK TO THE RESCUE
On the plains, midway between Cheyenne and the Black Hills, a train had halted for a noonday feed. Not a railway train, mind you, but a line of those white-covered vehicles drawn by strong-limbed mules, which are most properly styled prairie schooners.
There were four wagons of this type, and they had been drawn in a circle about a camp-fire, over which was roasting a savory haunch of venison. Around the camp-fire were grouped half a score of men, all rough, bearded, and grizzled, with one exception. This being a youth whose age one could have safely put at twenty, so perfectly developed of physique and intelligent of facial appearance was he. There was something about him that was not handsome, and yet you would have been puzzled to tell what it was, for his countenance was strikingly handsome, and surely no form in the crowd was more noticeable for its grace, symmetry, and proportionate development. It would have taken a scholar to have studied out the secret.
He was of about medium stature, and as straight and square-shouldered as an athlete. His complexion was nut-brown, from long exposure to the sun; hair of hue of the raven’s wing, and hanging in long, straight strands adown his back; eyes black and piercing as an eagle’s; features well molded, with a firm, resolute mouth and prominent chin. He was an interesting specimen of young, healthy manhood, and, even though a youth in years, was one that could command respect, if not admiration, wheresoever he might choose to go.
One remarkable item about his personal appearance, apt to strike the beholder as being exceedingly strange and eccentric, was his costume–buck-skin throughout, and that dyed to the brightest scarlet hue.
On being asked the cause of his odd freak of dress, when he had joined the train a few miles out from Cheyenne, the youth had laughingly replied:
Why, you see, it is to attract bufflers, if we should meet any, out on the plains ‘twixt this and the Hills.
He gave his name as Fearless Frank, and said he was aiming for the Hills; that if the party in question would furnish him a place among them, he would extend to them his assistance as a hunter, guide, or whatever, until the destination was reached.
Seeing that he was well armed, and judging from external appearances that he would prove a valuable accessory, the miners were nothing loth in accepting his services.
Of the others grouped about the camp-fire only one is specially noticeable, for, as Mark Twain remarks, the average of gold-diggers look alike.
This person was a little, deformed old man; hump-backed, bow-legged, and white-haired, with cross eyes, a large mouth, a big head, set upon a slim, crane-like neck; blue eyes, and an immense brown beard, that flowed downward half-way to the belt about his waist, which contained a small arsenal of knives and revolvers. He hobbled about with a heavy crutch constantly under his left arm, and was certainly a pitiable sight to behold.
He too had joined the caravan after it had quitted Cheyenne, his advent taking place about an hour subsequent to that of Fearless Frank. His name he asserted was Nix–Geoffrey Walsingham Nix–and where he came from, and what he sought in the Black Hills, was simply a matter of conjecture among the miners, as he refused to talk on the subject of his past, present or future.
The train was under the command of an irascible old plainsman who had served out his apprenticeship in the Kansas border war, and whose name was Charity Joe, which, considering his avaricious disposition, was the wrong handle on the wrong man. Charity was the least of all old Joe’s redeeming characteristics; charity was the very thing he did not recognize, yet some wag had facetiously branded him Charity Joe, and the appellation had clung to him ever since. He was well advanced in years, yet withal a good trailer and an expert guide, as the success of his many late expeditions into the Black Hills had evidenced.
Those who had heard of Joe’s skill as a guide, intrusted themselves in his care, for, while the stages were stopped more or less on each trip, Charity Joe’s train invariably went through all safe and sound. This was partly owing to his acquaintance with various bands of Indians, who were the chief cause of annoyance on the trip.
So far we see the train toward the land of gold, without their having seen sight or sound of hostile red-skins, and Charity is just chuckling over his usual good luck:
I tell ye what, fellers, we’ve hed a fa’r sort uv a shake, so fur, an’ no mistake ‘bout it. Barrin’ thar ain’t no Sittin’ Bulls layin’ in wait fer us, behead yander, in ther mounts, I’m of ther candid opinion we’ll get through wi’out scrapin’ a ha’r.
I hope so,
said Fearless Frank, rolling over on the grass and gazing at the guide, thoughtfully, but I doubt it. It seems to me that one hears of more butchering, lately, than there was a month ago–all on account of the influx of ruffianly characters into the Black Hills!
Not all owing to that, chippy,
interposed General
Nix, as he had immediately been christened by the miners–"not all owing to that. Thar’s them gol danged copper-colored guests uv ther government–they’re kickin’ up three pints uv the’r rumpus, more or less–consider’bly less of more than more o’ less. Take a passel uv them barbarities an’ shet ‘em up inter a prison for three or thirteen yeers, an’ ye’d see w’at an impression et’d make, now. Thar’d be siveral less massycrees a week, an’ ye wouldn’t see a rufyan onc’t a month. W’y, gentlefellows, thar’d nevyar been a ruffian, ef et hedn’t been fer ther cussed Injun tribe–not one! Ther infarnal critters ar’ ther instignators uv more deviltry nor a cat wi’ nine tails."
Yes, we will admit that the reds are not of saintly origin,
said Fearless Frank, with a quiet smile. In fact I know of several who are far from being angels, myself. There is old Sitting Bull, for instance, and Lone Lion, Rain-in-the-Face, and Horse-with-the-Red-Eye, and so forth, and so forth!
Exactly. Every one o’ ‘em’s a danged descendant o’ ther old Satan, hisself.
Layin’ aside ther Injun subjeck,
said Charity Joe, forking into the roasted venison, I move thet we take up a silent debate on ther pecooliarities uv a deer’s hind legs; so heer goes!
He cut out a huge slice with his bowie, sprinkled it over with salt, and began to devour it by very large mouthfuls. All hands proceeded to follow his example, and the noonday meal was dispatched in silence. After each man had fully satisfied his appetite and the mules and Fearless Frank’s horse had grazed until they were full as ticks, the order was given to hitch up, which was speedily done, and the caravan was soon in motion, toiling along like a diminutive serpent across the plain.
The afternoon was a mild, sunny one in early autumn, with a refreshing breeze perfumed with the delicate scent of after-harvest flowers wafting down from the cool regions of the Northwest, where lay the new El Dorado–the land of gold.
Fearless Frank bestrode a noble bay steed of fire and nerve, while old General Nix rode an extra mule that he had purchased of Charity Joe. The remainder of the company rode in the wagons or hoofed it,
as best suited their mood–walking sometimes being preferable to the rumbling and jolting of the heavy vehicles.
Steadily along through the afternoon sunlight the train wended its way, the teamsters alternately singing and cursing their mules, as they jogged along. Fearless Frank and the General
rode several hundred yards in advance, both apparently engrossed in deepest thought, for neither spoke until, toward the close of the afternoon, Charity Joe called their attention to a series of low, faint cries brought down upon their hearing by the stiff northerly wind.
‘Pears to me as how them sound sorter human like,
said the old guide, trotting along beside the young man’s horse, as he made known the discovery. Jes’ listen, now, an’ see if ye ain’t uv ther same opinion!
The youth did listen, and at the same time swept the plain with his eagle eyes, in search of the object from which the cries emanated. But nothing of animal life was visible in any direction beyond the train, and more was the mystery, since the cries sounded but a little way off.
"They are human cries! exclaimed Fearless Frank, excitedly,
and come from some one in distress. Boys, we must investigate this matter."
You can investigate all ye want,
grunted Charity Joe, but I hain’t a-goin’ ter stop ther train till dusk, squawk or no squawk. I jedge we won’t get inter their Hills any too soon, as it ar’.
You’re an old fool!
retorted Frank, contemptuously. I wouldn’t be as mean as you for all the gold in the Black Hills country, say nothin’ about that in California and Colorado.
He turned his horse’s head toward the north, and rode away, followed, to the wonder of all, by the General.
Ha! ha!
laughed Charity Joe, grimly, I wish you success.
You needn’t; I do not want any of your wishes. I’m going to search for the person who makes them cries, an’ ef you don’t want to wait, why go to the deuce with your old train!
There ye err,
shouted the guide: I’m goin’ ter Deadwood, instead uv ter the deuce.
"Maybe you will go to Deadwood, and then, again, maybe ye won’t," answered back Fearless Frank.
More or less!
chimed in the general–"consider’bly more of less than less of more. Look out thet ther allies uv Sittin’ Bull don’t git ther dead wood on ye."
On marched the train–steadily on over the level, sandy plain, and Fearless Frank and his strange companion turned their attention to the cries that had been the means of separating them from the train. They had ceased now, altogether, and the two men were at a loss what to do.
Guv a whoop, like a Government Injun,
suggested General
Nix; "an’ thet’ll let ther critter